The present invention relates generally to a gun which is selectively adaptable for firing rim-fire and center-fire cartridges. The present invention relates more specifically to selector means for enabling the gun to be in either the rim-fire mode or the center-fire mode. The type of gun to which the present invention is directed includes two firing pins, one for center-fire and one for rim-fire as shown, for example, in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,149, issued Feb. 9, 1971. The gun also has interchangeable barrels for the different types of cartridges which are used in the gun. The two firing pins are located one above the other in a bushing within the receiver of the gun. A rotatably adjustable hammer nose is located between the firing pins and the hammer. The hammer nose can be adjusted so that it will either strike the top firing pin or the lower one. When the hammer is released by the trigger mechanism. The firing mode of the hammer nose is changed by pulling the hammer back to the cocked position and rotating the hammer nose with a screwdriver.
One of the major disadvantages of the adjustable rim-fire/center-fire type of gun such as that shown in my above-identified U.S. patent, is that a screwdriver must always be available to the shooter in order to be able to convert the gun from one firing mode to another. Another disadvantage of this type of gun is that there is no clear indication as to what firing mode the gun is in. Each time the gun is used, the shooter must check carefully the position of the hammer nose. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art center-fire/rim-fire guns have been obviated by the present invention.
It is, therefore, a principle object of the invention to provide a hand-operated selector for a gun which is capable of selectively firing rim-fire and center-fire cartridges and which does not require the use of tools in order to change the firing mode of the gun.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a selector for a rim-fire/center-fire gun which is positioned on the outside of the gun at an easily accessible location.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a selector for a rim-fire/center-fire gun which has means for indicating which fire mode that the gun is in.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a selector for a rim-fire/center-fire gun which has a neutral mode in which the gun is incapable of firing a rim-fire cartridge or a center-fire cartridge.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a selector for a rim-fire/center-fire gun which is simple in construction and easy to use.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.